Wrapping tape fastener

ABSTRACT

A wrapping tape fastener for securing together at least two courses of engaged tape in the form of a loop having a pair of spaced-apart side legs joined at one end of each leg by a crossmember and a central leg formed on the crossmember extending in the direction of and generally intermediate the side legs, the central leg lying in a plane displaced away from the plane of the side legs, and means to prevent the central leg from passing between the side legs.

United States Patent Barnickei Jan. 25, 1972 54 WRAPPING TAPE FASTENER 2,938,252 5/1960 Scheemaeker ..24/259 PC X 3,082,773 3/1963 Renstrom et al. ..24/259 HC X [72] Inventor: Thomas Ban-nickel, 265 Main St.,

Ridgefield Park, NJ. 07660 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS [22] Filed: Jan. 6, 1969 1,152,513 9/1957 France ..24/23 B 17,930 0/1903 Great Britain ..24/259 PC [21] 789,153 505,530 5/1939 Great Britain ..24/200 A 1' t1 D Rented U S pp on an Primary Examiner-Donald A. Griffin [62] Division of Ser. No. 660,683, July 27, 1967, Pat. No. AtmrneyPopper, Bain & Bobis [57] ABSTRACT 52 A wrapping tape fastener for securing together at least two [58] courses of engaged tape in the form of a loop having a pair of 24/198 200 259 BC 67 9 23 B spaced-apart side legs joined at one end of each leg by a crossmember and a central leg formed on the crossmember extend- 56] Reterences cited ing in the direction of and generally intermediate the side legs,

UNITED STATES PATENTS the central leg lying in a plane displaced away from the plane of the side legs, and means to prevent the central leg from passing between the side legs.

3 Claims, 11 Drawing Figures PATENTED m2 5 I972 SHEET 1 OF 3 ATTORNEYS PATENTED Jmzsmz 3 sum 2 BF 3 IN VEN TOR.

THOMAS BARNICKEL pe g. M m

ATTORNEYS PATENTEDmzsrarz 3335597 SHEET 3 [IF 3 INVENTOR. THOMAS BARNICKEL BY Wm ATTORNEYS WRAPPING TAPE FASTENER This is a division of US. Pat. application Ser. No. 660,683 filed July 27, 1967, now US. Pat. No. 3,420,159 issued Jan. 7, 1969.

FIELD OF INVENTION The field of my invention is container closures generally and specifically apparatus and methods for wrapping a generally flat, elongated tape around a container and fastening the free ends securely together. More particularly, my invention contemplates apparatus and methods for automatically wrapping plastic tape such as oriented polypropylene supplied from two spaced-apart rolls to boxlike containers and fastening the free ends together by mechanical means. In addition, my apparatus and methods provide means for severing the fastened ends from the respective supply rolls and effecting an additional fastening of the opposite cut ends for application to a succeeding container.

Synthetic tape such as oriented polypropylene has extremely high tensile strength and other qualities which make for a superior wrapping of boxlike containers. However, in the past, it has been extremely difficult to automate the use of such synthetic tape because of the difficulty of sealing the free ends thereof after wrapping around the container. Oriented polypropylene may be thermally sealed together but the seal is frequently weak as against both shear and peeling stress. Thus, it is highly desirable to provide means whereby oriented polypropylene may be fastened together by mechanical means rather than by thermal sealing.

Thus, it is among the objects and advantages of my invention to provide apparatus and methods for automated sealing of containers by wrapping with a tape strip.

Another object of my invention is to provide apparatus and methods for sealing containers as aforesaid in which the tape is fed from two spaced-apart continuous rolls, cut to the appropriate length and the free ends tightly secured together by mechanical means.

Yet another object of my invention is to provide apparatus and methods for sealing containers as aforesaid inwhich the cut ends of the tape from the respective rollers produced during the cutting operation are simultaneously secured together by mechanical means when the opposite cut ends of the tape wrapped around the container are so fastened.

Still a further object of my invention is to provide a novel mechanical fastener for use with my apparatus and methods adapted to tightly secure free ends of tape together providing a closure having superior resistance to both tensile and peeling stress.

The subject matter of my invention is broadly classified in the United States Patent Office in clms l8, subclasses 3 and 38; class 113, subclasses 59 and 107; class 156, subclass 502 and class 264, subclasses 152, 248 and 249. The following US. Letters Patent are broadly related to the field of my invention but do not anticipate the same: US. Pat. Nos. 2,281,976, 2,994,361 and 3,144,495.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION By way of summary, my invention is a container-taping device comprising first pairs of terminally opposed clamping members, each said first pair being longitudinally movable in opposition to each other to terminally engage and disengage, said first pairs being spaced apart latitudinally; second pairs of terminally opposed clamping members intermediate the said first pairs, each second pair of clamping members being longitudinally movable in opposition to each other to terminally engage and disengage simultaneously with the said first pairs; the said second pairs of clamping members being simultaneously, latitudinally movable alternately toward and away from the respective said first pairs, synchronously with longitudinal movement of both said first and second pairs.

More particularly, my invention is also a method for taping containers comprising intruding a container between two lengths of tape fastened together at one end; clamping the opposite ends of the tape together at no less than two pairs of mutually spaced-apart points; securing together the lengths of tape intermediate the clamping points of each said pair; severing the two tape lengths intermediate the said pairs of clamping points; and unclamping the said lengths of tape.

Still more particularly, my invention is also a fastener for use with my apparatus and methods comprising a pair of spaced-apart side legs joined at one end of each by a crossmember; a central leg resiliently formed on the crossmember extending in the direction of and generally intermediate the side legs, the central leg lying in a plane displaced from the plane of the side legs; the center leg being just sufficiently more narrow than the space between the side legs to receive a pair of contacting tapes but just sufficiently wide to prevent damage to said tape by resilient deflection of the center leg in the direction of the plane of the side legs.

PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF INVENTION The objects and advantages aforesaid as well as other objects and advantages of my invention may be achieved by the methods hereinafter described and by use of the apparatus and fastener illustrated in the drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational, partially cutaway view of my container-taping device;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the bottom portion of my container-taping device shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a bottom plan view of the top portion of my container-taping'device shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a side elevational view of my container-taping device showing a pair of spaced-apart tape feed rollers;

FIGS. 5, 6, 7 and 8 are each side elevational views of my container-taping apparatus showing sequentially the operation of the same;

FIG. 9 is a top plan view of my fastener for use with my apparatus and methods;

FIG. 10 is a side elevational view of the fastener shown in FIG. 9;

FIG. 11 is a view in perspective of the fastener shown in FIGS. 9 and 10 showing the manner of engagement thereof with the tape as presented by my apparatus, the tape shown in broken lines.

Referring now to the drawings in detail, my container-taping device comprises a stationary base unit 11 and a longitudinally movable top unit 12. Movement of the top unit 12 in the direction of the base unit 11 provides the clamping action hereinafter described.

The base unit 11 comprises a generally rectangular, flat bottom 13 having on opposite sides thereof a pair of upstanding, generally parallel, spaced-apart rigidly immovable sidewalls l4, 15. A pair of double-acting pneumatic or hydraulic cylinders l6, 17 are connected to the outside of the respective sidewalls 14 and 15. Each of the cylinders 16 and 17 carry an internal, slidable piston, respectively 18 and 19. Conduits respectively 20 and 21 are provided for the introduction and withdrawal of hydraulic or pneumatic fluid from the cylinders respectively 16 and 17.

A piston rod, 22 and 23, is connected to the pistons respectively 18 and 19 and extend through the respective sidewalls l4 and 15. The external terminal end of each of the piston rods 22 and 23 is connected to an upstanding latitudinally movable wall respectively 24 and 25. A stopblock 26 is rigidly mounted on the bottom 13 intermediate the latitudinally movable wall 24 and 25.

The top edge of the walls 14, 15 and the latitudinally movable walls 24 and 25 lie in the same plane and are provided with a concave upper edge respectively 27, 28, 29 and 30. In addition, a pair of generally parallel spaced-apart guide rails are connected to and extend between the sidewalls l4 and 15. The latitudinally movable walls 24 and 25 are slidably mounted on the guide rails 31 and 32.

The top unit comprises a generally rectangular flat top 33 to which a piston rod 34 is connected at the upper surface. A pair of vertically depending spaced-apart sidewalls are mounted on the top 33. A generally rectangular base member 37 is mounted across the bottom of the sidewalls 35 and 36. The base is provided with a pair of rigid, vertically depending clamping walls respectively 38 and 39. The base 37 is also provided with a pair of parallel, spaced-apart, generally rectangular transverse openings 40 and 41.

A pair of spaced-apart guide rails 42 and 43 are mounted between the sidewalls 35 and 36 above the base 37. Pairs of carrier blocks respectively 44 and 45 and 46 and 47 are slidably mounted on the rails 42 and 43. A connecting rod 48,48 is rigidly attached to each of the carrier blocks 44 and 45 depending through the respective openings 40 and 41 in the base 37. Similarly, connecting rod 49,49 is rigidly mounted on carrier blocks 46 and 47 depending through the respective openings 40 and 41.

A latitudinally movable clamping wall 50 is mounted across the terminal ends of the connecting rods 48,48 beneath the base 37. Similarly, a clamping wall 51 is connected across the terminal ends of connecting rods 49,49. The clamping wall 50 is provided with a terminal, convex clamping edge 52 and the clamping wall 51 is similarly provided with a terminal convex clamping edge 53. In similar fashion, the terminal ends of clamping walls 38 and 39 are each provided with a convex clamping edge respectively 54 and 55. The respective clamping edges 52,53,54 and 55 lie in the same plane which is generally parallel to the plane of the arcuate concave upper clamping edges 27, 28, 29 and 30 of the base unit 1 1.

Each of the clamping walls 38 and 50 is provided with a generally horizontal coplanar slot or groove 56 and 57, the open ends of which are in general opposition. Similarly, the clamping walls 51 and 39 are provided with generally horizontal coplanar grooves or slots respectively 58 and 59, the open ends of which are in general opposition. The pairs of opposed slots 56,57 and 58,59 are adapted to slidably receive my fastener 60 illustrated in detail in FIGS. 9, l and 1 l.

The fastener 60 comprises a pair of flat, latitudinally rigid, spaced-apart side legs respectively 61 and 62 interconnected at one end of each by a flat crossleg 63. A center leg 64 is resiliently formed on the crossleg 63 extending generally between the side legs 61 and 62 but normally lying in a plane displaced from the plane of the said side legs.

The side legs 61 and 62 are each provided with an inwardly extending detent respectively 65 and 66 generally at the end opposite the crossleg 63. Similarly, the free end 67 of the center leg 64 is flattened and thereby expanded laterally such that the farthest lateral extension of the free end 67 extends beyond the farthest inward extension of the detents 65 and 66 of the respective side legs 61 and 62. Thus, the center leg 64 is positively prevented from deflecting downwardly through the space between the side legs 61 and 62.

The connection between the center leg 64 and the crossleg 63 is provided with a positive angle between an increment in advance of 0 and less than 90 to provide the center leg with resilience from a pivot point above the plane of the side legs 61 and 62 and the crossleg 63 as is illustrated in FIG. 10. The space between the side edges of the center leg 64 and the inside edges of the side legs 61 and 62 respectively 68 and 69 are dimensioned to be approximately twice the width of the tape 70 which passes therethrough. In addition, the edge of the crossleg 63 opposite the center leg 64 is provided with a generally U-shaped recess 71 to accommodate pusher means.

The operation of my container-taping device is sequentially illustrated in FIGS. 4 through 8 inclusive. Tape 70 is fed from two separate, spaced-apart, continuous rolls 72 and 73. In a manner hereinafier described, the tape from the upper leg 74 of the tape from roll 72 and the lower leg 75 of the tape from roll 73 are fastened together. A container 76 is intruded between the upper leg 74 of tape 70 and the lower leg 75 thereof as is illustrated in FIG. 4. The mechanism for intruding the container 76 between the legs of the tape 70 is not crucial to my invention and need be detailed no further.

The top unit 12 of my device is raised upwardly by means of the piston rod 34. The raising and lowering mechanism of the top unit 12 is not a crucial part of my invention and need be detailed no further. The separation between the top unit 12 and the base unit 11 obviously must be sufficient for the container 76 to pass therethrough; the container riding upon the plane of the concave upper edges 27, 28, 29 and 30 of the walls respectively 14, 24, 25 and 15. 1

The container 76 continues between the top unit 12 and base unit 11 to a point immediately beyond the sidewalls respectively 14 and 36 of the base unit 11 and the top unit 12 as is illustrated in FIG. 5. The feed from rollers 72 and 73 is governed to apply significant tension to the upper leg 74 and lower leg 75 of the tape 70 compressing the container 76 and elastically stretching the tape 70.

The top unit 12 thereafter descends until the convex clamping edges 52, 53, 54 and 55 of the top unit 12 seat in the concave upper edges 29, 30, 27 and 28 respectively of the base unit 11. At this point in the sequence, latitudinally movable walls 24 and 25 of the base unit 11 are at their closest point abutting against stopblock 26. The clamping walls 50 and 51 of the top unit 12 are in vertical registration therewith. Thus, the upper leg 74 and lower leg 75 of the tape 70 are clamped into contacting parallelism between four clamping points defined by cooperative convex-concave clamping edges, respectively 54-27, 52-29, 52-30 and 55-28. To insure registration between the latitudinally movable walls 24 and 25 of the base unit 11 and the latitudinally movable walls 50 and 51 of the top unit 12, registration pins 77 extend upwardly from the concave upper edges 29 and 30 of walls 24 and 25. The registration pins 77 snugly seat in bores 78 in the concave clamping edges 52 and 53 of the latitudinally movable walls 50, 51 of the top unit 12.

It should be noted that the downward movement of the top unit 12 together with the normal tension exerted by the rollers 72 and 73 on the tape 70 further draws the tape 70 more tightly around the container 76, compressing the container and elastically stretching the tape.

It is now necessary to perform three functions not necessarily in sequence. Firstly, sever the upper and lower legs 74 and 75 of the tape 70; secondly, fasten together the severed ends of the tape 70 wrapped around the container 76; and thirdly, fasten together the opposite cut ends of the tape 70 so that another container 76 may be intruded therebetween.

Severance of the upper and lower legs 74 and 75 of the tape 70 is performed by a thermal cutting wire 79 which may be normally in contact with the respective legs of the tape 70 as is illustrated in FIGS. 4, 5 and 6. The thermal cutter may be a nichrome wire which, when cutting is desired, is heated to a sufficient temperature to cause melting of the tape as is illustrated in FIG. 7. Of course, nichrome chills so rapidly that the wire 79 would not affect the tape 70 shortly thereafter.

A principal function of my apparatus is to pemiit the mechanical fastening of severed ends of the tape 70 both on the side of the container 76 and the side of the rollers 72 and 73. This operation is performed simultaneously in a similar manner. After severance of the tape 70, the double-acting cylinders 16 and 17 are simultaneously actuated to draw the respective latitudinally movable walls 24, 25 toward the rigid, immovable sidewalls respectively 14 and 15. The upper leg 74 and lower leg 75 of the tape is clamped together in contacting parallelism between the aforesaid latitudinally movable walls and the respective rigid walls. However, the clamping points between the base unit 11 and the top unit 12 are tightly engaged or clamped convex-concave edges as between edges 27-54 and 29-52 on the roller side of the device and between edges 30-53 and 28-55 on the container side thereof. Thus, the contacting tape legs are normally urged in an upward direction between the respective latitudinally movable walls and rigid sidewalls. When the latitudinally movable walls are drawn in the direction of the rigid sidewalls, the contacting tape normally defines an upwardly extending loop 80 as is illustrated in FIG. 7.

After the loops 80,80 have been formed, a fastener 60 is engaged to each. The fastener 60 is engaged by sliding the fastener through the opposing grooves 56,57 and 58,59 which are now spaced apart a distance slightly greater than the overall width of the fastener 60. The fastener 60 is pushed in the direction of the free ends of the legs 61,62 and 64 with the tape-engaging cam surfaces 81,82 on the respective side legs 61, 62 thereafier passing into slots 68 and 69 as is clearly illustrated in FIG. 11. Of course, in FIG. 11, the loop 80 is disproportionally enlarged for illustrative purposes only.

The latitudinally movable walls 24,25 of the base unit 11 may then be returned to the position adjacent to the stopblock 26 and in the process pull the tape snugly into engagement with the fastener 60. The top unit 12 is then withdrawn upwardly away from the base unit 11 releasing each of the four clamping edges as is illustrated in FIG. 8. In the alternative, the top unit 12 may be withdrawn upwardly from the base unit 11 before the latitudinally movable walls 24, 25 of the base unit 11 are moved to the stopblock 26 permitting the compressed resilience of the container 76 and the elastic memory of the tape 70 to pull the fastener 60 tight. The opposite fastener 60 is pulled tight by the intrusion of the next container 76 between the upper legs 74 and the lower legs 75 of the tape 70. In such an alternative arrangement, spring means must be provided to bring the clamping walls 50 and 51 of the top unit 12 into registration with the latitudinally movable walls 24 and 25 of the base unit 1 1.

In the drawings, the container 76 has been shown proportionally small in comparison to the taping device for illustrative purposes only. Actually, the container 76 is considerably larger and therefore, the relative distance between the point of engagement of the fastener 60 with the loop 80 adjacent to the container 76 is very small and is taken up by the expansion of the compressed container 76 and the elastic memory of the tape 70. The recess 63 in the fastener 20 is provided merely to receive a pushing element for pushing the fastener through the grooves 56-57 and 58-59. a

The foregoing description is merely intended to illustrate an embodiment of the invention. The component parts have been shown and described. They each may have substitutes which may perform a substantially similar function; such substitutes may be known as proper substitutes'for the said components and may have actually been known or invented before the present invention; these substitutes are contemplated as being within the scope of the appended claims, although they are not specifically catalogued herein.

Iclaim:

l. A fastener comprising:

a. a pair of spaced-apart side legs joined at one end of each side leg by a crossmember;

b. a central leg resiliently formed on the crossmember extending in the direction of and generally intermediate the side legs, the central leg lying in a plane ofthe side legs;

c. the center leg being just sufiiciently more narrow than the space between the side legs to receive a pair of contacting tapes but sufficiently wide to prevent damage to said tapes by resilient deflection of the center leg in the direction of the plane of the side legs; and cooperative means on the free ends of the side legs and center leg to positively prevent the center leg from passing between the side legs, said means comprising opposed, outwardly flared edges formed on the side legs and opposed, inwardly extending portions on the side legs and an enlargement on the free end of the center leg, a portion of each side of the said enlargement extending outwardly over the said inwardly extending portions of the side legs.

2. A fastener comprising:

a. The structure in accordance with claim 1, in which;

b. the said enlargement on the center leg is tapered toward the free end of the center leg.

3. A fastener comprising:

a. the structure in accordance with claim 2; b. the distance between the respective side legs and the center leg when the free ends of said legs are engaged is approximately twice the thickness of the tape to be fastened together therewith. 

1. A fastener comprising: a. a pair of spaced-apart side legs joined at one end of each side leg by a crossmember; b. a central leg resiliently formed on the crossmember extending in the direction of and generally intermediate the side legs, the central leg lying in a plane of the side legs; c. the center leg being just sufficiently more narrow than the space between the side legs to receive a pair of contacting tapes but sufficiently wide to prevent damage to said tapes by resilient deflection of the center leg in the direction of the plane of the side legs; and d. cooperative means on the free ends of the side legs and center leg to positively prevent the center leg from passing between the side legs, said means comprising opposed, outwardly flared edges formed on the side legs and opposed, inwardly extending portions on the side legs and an enlargement on the free end of the center leg, a portion of each side of the said enlargement extending outwardly over the said inwardly extending portions of the side legs.
 2. A fastener comprising: a. The structure in accordance with claim 1, in which; b. the said enlargement on the center leg is tapered toward the free end of the center leg.
 3. A fastener comprising: a. the structure in accordance with claim 2; b. the distance between the respective side legs and the center leg when the free ends of said legs are engaged is approximately twice the thickness of the tape to be fastened together therewith. 